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| Just before the Midterm... - Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at 12:05 p.m. |
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Just like we did for assignment two with our new medium of choice, I've decided to compare a few sites that uses the karma threaded forum system.
I've decided to look over the following sites:
-vbullentin.nl
-kuro5shin.org
-slashdot.org
-SE
vbullentin.nl
This site provides a forum in which vbullentin fans can post about whatever they like. It is essentially just a regular forum, but with karma regulating posts instead of moderators. From the looks of it, the system seems effective as there is no spams or flames, etc. Registration to the forum is free, but a valid email is required. Non-restrictive emails such as hotmail or yahoo are banned and thus, users must use a more permanent email, a gurantee that they will have to make that account count. This leaves little room for random spam attacks and makes the karma system even more effective. Finally, vbullentin.nl make is possible for users to get negative karma. Thus, good posters and bad posters can be clearly differentiated. Overall, an excellent application of the karma system. The forum is well laid out, but restricts one from freely posting about anything they like. Also, good posters gain no special privileges. In fact, they still have the same privileges as the bad posters, giving no real incentive, other than reputation, to make quality posts.
kuro5hin.org
kuro5hin allows more freedom in postings as anything that does not fit under one of their 11 categories can be filed under the "diary" section. Also, there is the added benefit of the front page, which allows one to see all the postings on the site, arranged by currency. However, the site seems to cater primarily to the more "geeky" subculture and variety in postings suffer as a result. Also, the karma system here is invisible, and there is no real requirement to make good posts.
Slashdot.org
While posting on the main site is restricted here, karma plays a larger role than it does in the previous two sites. Those with higher scores will have their comments place in priority, meaning that more people will see their comments. This is especially true since people browsing the site can filter out posts based on scores. Users with higher karma scores will also have more influence when participating in Slashdot's moderation and meta moderation system. The only major complaint is the limitation in ability to make posts.
SE
SE combines elements of kuro5hin and slashdot to create a site that allows users to post about anything (and gurantee that it will be seen by all) while being regulated by the karma system. Again, there is a filtering option in place and those with higher scores will have a better chance of having their post seen. On SE, not only is the comments regulated by karma, but so is the posts! One can immediately see whether a link is worth pursing by looking at the posts own karma score. Again, those with higher personal karma gain more influence in their moderating of others. Finally, the freedom in posting produces a site where one can find practically anything. Many interesting posts and links are noted daily as the site is very competetive. There are also near instant news updates (that are worthwhile reading) and community bonding activities (such as AskSE). The only complaint I have is that SE lacks the security that vbullentin.nl demostrated. Anyone with any email may register. Also, there are no negative individual scores; which means that it is hard to tell the difference between a new user and a poor poster. Other than that, SE utilizes karma the best.
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Cheers,
MrScaryMuffin |
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| Happy Valentine's Day! - Monday, February 14, 2005 at 10:35 p.m. |
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Props out to all you love birds out there. I, myself, have had a wonderful Valentine's eve and day.
Unfortunately, throughout first assignment/midterm season (the past few weeks) I have found myself with little time to blog. Well, I've had the time but not enough to do the research that I wanted. Regular updates will proceed from now on, I promise.
Last Valentine's eve, with my own preparations already set and ready to go, I helped a friend with his. He was in Calgary at the time and would land around 2pm, giving him enough time to pick up some flowers and meet his girlfriend after she got off work. I called the local florist and acted as intermediatary between the florist and my friend, who was talking to me through msn messenger.
Thinking about this and how it relates to my karma system theme, I realized that sites that employ karma had a great flaw that would lessen their appeal: the lack of immediacy and intimacy.
Unlike instant messengers, sites that use karma systems do not care about fast replies. Of course, this can be a good thing in that post qualities would be better and not as shallow as the replies you get from people who are talking to 20 people at once. Then again, it is no guarantee considering all the problems people have with those annoying "first" comments.
And for intimacy, there is no doubt that people can become well known on the site for excellent posts or whatnot. A good example of this would be Mr. Chop-Logik From SE who has the whopping karma score of 393. However, as far as private, tete a tete conversations go, websites are not exactly the best place for it. On forums, there are private messages, and some site may provide similar services. For larger sites with a bigger following, though, an internal mailing system might just be one big unnecessary hassle.
Of course, I'm merely talking about karma systems for website postings and comments. This website as well as slashdot's FAQ explains the original conception of karma systems. It was meant to act as a regulating tool that has the peers moderate the comments made for each post. SE (as noted in a previous post) took this system one step further in allowing its members to make website posts themselves and used the karma system to regulate that. A simple, but powerful step as it liberated the members and allowed the website to flourish and become was it is now. Possibly, in the future, the karma system could be adapted and applied to chat rooms and from there...further innovations will allow it peer regulate other things (maybe even the whole internet!)
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Cheers,
MrScaryMuffin |
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| Just a quickie, non-related, only for interest post - Tuesday, February 01, 2005 at 11:36 p.m. |
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Just thought that some of you guys might have something to say about these:
The battle between printed and webcomic syndicates
A CIA site targetting children
Some things that is sort of 253 related...
Non-black box thinking?
The future?
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Cheers,
MrScaryMuffin |
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